1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a coat hanger carrier of the type intended for use with a garment bag wherein an array of hook portions of loaded coat hangers project from the upper end of the garment bag and must be held together and supported in order to carry the garment bag.
2. Prior Art
It is customary to protectively cover certain hangable garments such as suits, dresses, and coats with a garment bag for travel. The garments are hung on conventional coat hangers and the hangers are aligned with their hook portions arranged in a side-by-side array. A garment bag is then cloaked over the collection of garments and the hanger-hook array is caused to extend through an opening in the top of the bag. Since the hook portions are normally formed of relatively thin wire, it is uncomfortable to hold an array of these heavily loaded hanger-hooks in one's hand while transporting the bag for any significant distance.
In an effort to enlarge the hanger surface area engaged by one's hand in carrying a plurality of loaded hangers, some persons have wrapped tape around the array of hanger hooks. This proposed solution necessitates that tape be removed when access is to be had to garments carried on the hangers, and requires that new tape be applied when one is again ready to travel.
3. The Referenced Carrier Patent
The invention described in the referenced Carrier Patent addresses and overcomes the foregoing and other drawbacks of the prior art by providing a novel and improved carrier for releasably retaining an array of hanger hook portions and for distributing the weight of heavily loaded hangers across the width of one's hand.
A carrier embodying the preferred practice of the Carrier Patent invention includes a substantially C-shaped member having upper and lower leg portions which overlap each other and which extend substantially in a common plane. The upper leg portion is of sufficient size and cross section relative to the size of one's hand to effectively distribute the weight of heavily loaded hangers across the width of one's hand. The lower leg portion has a hanger-hook receiving structure defining an opening which extends parallel to at least a part of the lower leg portion for releasably receiving and retaining hanger-hook portions with their associated hangers extending substantially within the common plane. The receiving structure is located at a position approximately below the center of gravity of the upper leg portion so that the upper leg portion will tend to uniformly load such portions of one's hand as engage it. Carriers of this type enable one to comfortably transport heavily loaded garment bags without excessively stressing one or two fingers as commonly occurs when one tries to directly carry several relatively heavily loaded coat hangers.
A problem not addressed by the invention of the referenced Carrier Patent is that of providing an improved carrier which, while supporting a loaded garment bag, can be hung on a wall-mounted hook of the type normally provided inside the rear seating compartment of an automobile. Wall-mounted hooks of the type normally provided inside the rear seating compartment of an automobile are relatively small in size in comparison with the relatively large cross-section of the carrier described in the referenced Carrier Patent. Such hooks are ordinarily not capable of engaging and supporting a carrier of the type described in the Carrier Patent.